NEW YORK – There was a small sign of optimism following a long day in court.

NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith — shortly before being whisked into a car and driven off after he and his union argued on behalf of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in a Deflategate settlement conference — offered reporters gathered outside the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York just five words.

“It was a productive day,” he said.

And after this case has dragged on for almost seven months, that’s a good sign.

Judge Richard M. Berman held a settlement conference Wednesday in which he grilled both the NFL and the NFLPA with calculated questions aimed at assessing strengths and weaknesses in the arguments of both sides. The league seeks confirmation of Brady’s four-game suspension stemming from his involvement in the alleged intentional deflation of game balls prior to January’s AFC Championship Game.

The union, meanwhile, asks the court to vacate the suspension on the grounds that Goodell was an “evidently partial” arbitrator after the Commissioner exercised Article 46 of the collective bargaining agreement to act as the hearing officer in Brady’s June 23 appeal.

Smith’s comments are the sign that this case may — finally — be nearing a resolution, especially when it’s noted that his statement came almost five hours after Judge Berman adjourned the session and requested that both sides meet separately and privately with him.

As long as talks continue, there’s an opportunity for progress.

“I am completely open-minded to settling this,” Judge Berman said during his opening remarks. “So I will be looking to both parties for ideas to make that happen.”

The message Berman issued was clear: He’s expecting both the NFL and the union to cooperate and to get this resolved

And if that wasn’t obvious enough, he pushed the issue further.

Just minutes into the hearing, he noted that if the two parties can’t agree to a settlement by Sept. 4 — the deadline agreed to by both the league and the union — the case could be elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit where a contentious litigation battle could ensue.

“These cases, generally, do not go to trial,” Berman said. “The lifespan of cases in the Second Circuit can be two, sometimes three years.”

There are still weaknesses and strengths in both arguments, as Berman noted to the approximately 70 people who were allowed into the hearing on the 17th floor of the courthouse.

The NFL still can’t offer a convincing answer about whether league-appointed attorney Ted Wells, whose 243-page report was the basis of Brady’s suspension was truly an “independent arbitrator” as the league characterized him. It still doesn’t have the so-called “smoking gun” that implicates Brady.

The union still can’t offer a credible explanation for why two low-level equipment managers would intentionally deflate footballs without the consent of the quarterback making the throws.

But NFLPA lead counsel Jeffrey Kessler may have slightly opened the door when Berman asked about Brady’s lack of cooperation in turning over his phone during Wells’ investigation.

“The line was drawn at the advice of agents and lawyers,” Kessler said. “It was not drawn by the union. Your Honor, you’re right. It could’ve been handled a different way. Mr. Brady agrees it could’ve been handled in a different way.”

That sounds like a side that might be willing to settle.

Now both parties have until Friday to file additional briefs in support of their arguments.

And, if a settlement can’t be reach by Aug. 19, Berman confirmed his request to have Brady, the union’s lawyers, Goodell and the league’s attorneys all due back in court for another settlement conference.